Abstract
In order to be able to predict the fate and pathways of plutonium dispersed on the ocean, the concentration of 239,240 Pu in surface and deep seawaters collected during cruises from 1976 to 1982 in areas suchas the Pacific Ocean were determined by the Japanese reference procedure. 236 Pu and 242 Pu, calibrated by reference to a standardized 241 Am solution, were used as yield tracers and in view of the correction necessary for 236 Pu decay, the half-life of 236 Pu was redetermined by preparing synthetic mixtures such as 236Pu + 239, 240Pu and measuring the decrease in the 236Pu/ 239,240Pu alpha-activity ratio by alpha-spectrometry. The concentration of 239, 240Pu in seawaters studied in this work were in range from 2 to 37 μBq1 −1, and from the secular change in the concentration and in 239, 240Pu profile, it is suggested that plutonium in the ocean is resistant to scavenging and renoval by settling matter. The 236Pu half-life va;ue obtained in this work, (1046.9 ± 3.1) days, compared well with the value reported in 1957.
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